In July 2013, I was walking down the stairs in my home early one morning. I was tired from caring for my one year old twins who were going through a period of not sleeping well. In my bleary state, I missed the last step and fell onto the hardwood floor.
I knew right away that I had done serious damage to the foot that caught my fall, and I was soon was at the hospital being fit for an air cast to support my broken bone. I have noticed that ever since this experience, I am hyperaware of my footing as I go down stairs–not only in my home during early morning hours, but in every location, every time of day, and every type of stair. This kind of awareness (and potentially nervousness) is fairly common after taking a fall. A fall can be traumatic in nature and our brains are programmed to learn from experience. So if you are finding yourself experiencing this, you are not alone!
If you are finding, however, that this awareness or nervousness has begun to interfere in your day-to-day functioning or you find yourself avoiding certain situations (e.g. walking an extra 20 minutes to avoid taking a staircase) that cause overwhelming anxiety, this is a situation you may want to address. The more we avoid things that make us nervous, for example, the stronger the nervousness will become (a process psychologists call “reinforcement”). The best way to work through avoidance is to change the way we think about the situation or our ability to deal with the situation, and so here are some ways to change your thoughts:
- Ask yourself “what are the odds?” Once we’ve experienced something like a fall, we may be concerned we will fall again. Say to yourself: what are the odds this will happen again? How likely is it that I will fall? Most likely, the chances are low.
- Answer the “what if question”: Our anxiety and stress levels are often increased when we use the phrase “what if…?”. One way to decrease this stress is to answer the question with a reminder of what resources you have to deal with the situation. For example, perhaps you are walking down a set of stairs but holding onto the hand rail. If, for some reason, you lose your footing, holding on to the handrail will most likely help keep you safe.
- Remember all the times you did not fall: Once we have fallen, it is easier to recall this one experience instead of the 54,371 other times we did the exact same thing and did not fall! To help reduce our worries, we can cultivate a more holistic viewpoint by remembering that the vast majority of the time, we are able to stay upright.